Conventional lighting within vehicles includes general interior lighting for reading, entry of passengers at night and the like, as well as localized lighting for instrumentation and control switches. The former is typically provided by one or more lighting assemblies in the roof, header area, door panels or quarter window areas of the vehicle, while the latter is usually provided by means of individual light emitting sources at the rear of an instrument cluster or switch to provide back lighting visible from the front of the instrument or control. However, these conventional lighting sources fail to provide illumination of many other controls needed to fully operate the vehicle, leaving the driver or passenger to grope clumsily at night or in low light conditions to find items such as an ashtray, door handle, seat or window switch, heater control, cup holder, or the like. Alternately, the person may switch on a general overhead light to find a particular control or handle but creating high levels of unwanted glare causing unsafe driving conditions for the vehicle driver. Use of such a conventional overhead or other general illumination light emitting source has typically included an incandescent bulb requiring high power levels and creating additional heat within the vehicle. Such incandescent light bulbs are also subject to short life spans and frequent failure. Consequently, incandescent light bulbs are usually a service item in the vehicle normally requiring service instruction to the dealership and/or consumer and spare part inventory by the vehicle manufacturer. Moreover, use of such conventional lighting cannot be continuous during night vehicle use because of the high glare levels produced, thereby leaving many controls within the vehicle unidentified for most night driving or other low level light conditions.
Accordingly, the need was recognized for improved illumination of instrumentation, controls, and/or other areas within a vehicle which would avoid production of unwanted, unsafe glare yet identify necessary vehicle controls without typical backlit instrumentation and electrical control switches.